Camper unit

ABSTRACT

A camper unit is sufficiently light and compact that it may be easily carried on a vehicle such as a pick up truck, and may be erected on the ground or in the pick up truck itself.

United States Patent [191 [111 3,737,190 Smith et al. 1 June 5, 1973[54] CAMPER UNIT [56] References Cited [76] Inventors: Robert W. Smith,2041 Carolina UNIT D T E E Avenue, Port Arthur, Tex. 77640; E S AT S PATNTS William H. Smith, 303 Hill Terrace 3,466,082 9/1969 Branch ..296/23Drive; Roy E. Neel, 704 22nd Street, both of Nederla, Tex. 77627 Filed:June 25, 1971 Appl. No.1 156,860

U.S. Cl. ..296/23 A, 135/! A Int. Cl. ..B60p 3/34 Field of Search..296/23 R, 23 A;

Primary Examiner-Philip Goodman Att0rneyPravel, Wilson & Matthews [57]ABSTRACT A camper unit is sufficiently light and compact that it may beeasily carried on a vehicle such as a pick up truck, and may be erectedon the ground or in the pick up truck itself.

17 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUN Slam 3.737.190

SHEET 10F 3 Hm! wlllw & Mammy JTTORNE YS PATENTEUJlm 51913 SHEET 3 0F 3INVENTORS M y WM m W////am hf Jm/ plume! willow 6 Mofllqewt IITTORNE YSCAMPER UNIT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The field of the invention iscamping equipment.

Tents used for camping out of doors must not only provide a good coverwhen in an erected position; but, such tents must be lightweight forease in handling and collapsible into compact units for ease incarrying.

One style of camper unit is collapsible into a trailer so that thecamper unit may be towed from place to place by automobile. Anotherstyle of camper, which is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,466,082 issued toBranch, is mounted in the load carrying bed of a pick up truck and iserected therein. Camper units such as that disclosed in the Branchpatent offer the advantage of being movable with the pick up truck;however they are very heavy and bulky and have such a unusual shape thatthey cannot be carried in any vehicle but a pick up truck. Although theerecting of a camper unit on the pick up truck offers the advantage ofproviding sleeping space removed from the ground, it is sometimesdesirable, such as when the camping grounds are cleared, to remove anderect the camper unit away from the pick up truck so that the pick uptruck can be used for other purposes. The camper unit of Branch cannotbe easily removed and erected away from the pick up truck. Further, inorder for the camper unit in Branch, US. Pat. No. 3,466,082 to bemounted in a pick up truck, a number of rather heavy mounting bracketsmust be attached to the lower rear fenders.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to provide acamper unit that is sufficiently light and compact that it may becarried by many types of vehicles, including a pick up truck, and may beerected either in the vehicle or on the ground or other surface.

This object and other objects of this invention are accomplished byproviding a camper unit that is adapted to be mounted into numeroustypes of vehicles such as a pick up truck for carrying and may beerected in the pick up truck or at other locations. The camper accordingto this invention includes panels which are supported in a cantileverposition extending outwardly beyond the camper frame so that additionalsleeping and storage space is provided. In one particular aspect of thisinvention, reinforcing means are disposed between opposing side portionsof the frame for supporting the panels in the cantilever position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The preferred embodiment of thisinvention will be described hereinafter; together with other featuresthereof, and additional objects will become evident from suchdescription.

The invention will be more readily understood from a reading of thefollowing specification and by reference to the accompanying drawingsforming a part thereof wherein an example of the invention is shown andwherein:

FIG. 1 is an end view of the camper unit of this invention in an erectedposition;

FIG. 2 is an end view of the camper unit in a collapsed position;

FIG. 3 is a side view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along 4-4 of FIG. 3 showing one of thepanels in the cantilever position;

FIG. 5 is an end view of the camper unit of this invention with thetent-like cover removed from the pick up truck;

FIG. 6 is a detailed view of the inside frame latch taken along line 6-6of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a detailed view of the outside frame latch taken along line7-7 of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the anchoring means taken along line 8-8of FIG. 1.

In the drawings, the camping unit A is shown mounted on a pickup truck Bwhich has a load carrying bed generally designated by the number 10. Theload carrying bed 10 includes upstanding sidewalls 10a and 10b whichextend upwardly from a floor 10c. In accordance with a preferredembodiment of this invention, the camping unit A is mounted on theupstanding sidewalls 10a and 10b of the load carrying bed 10 of the pickup truck. The camping unit A is extremely light weight and, as will bedescribed later, is collapsible into the compact position shown in FIG.2 and may be unfolded or erected to the position shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and5. A tent-like cover 11 is designed to provide a cover for the camperunit when erected; the cover 11 is shown partly removed in FIG. 3 and inbroken lines in FIG. 3 and FIG. 5.

The camping unit A comprises a U-shaped frame 12 which includes opposingside portions 12a and 12b which are mounted on the upstanding sidewalls10a and 10b respectively, of the load carrying bed. The opposing sideportions of the frame include flat side boards 13a and 13b. The sideboard 13a has studs 14a and 15a extending from the bottom surface of theboard member in position to tit into support holes in the upstandingsidewall 10a. Similarly, the side boards 13b has studs, only stud 14bbeing shown in the drawing, which are positioned so that the side boardcan be mounted onto the top of the upstanding sidewall 10b of the loadcarrying bed of the pick up. The side boards 13a and 13b are connectedat their front ends by a front board 16 by any suitable means such asbrackets (not shown) so that the side boards 13a and 13b and the frontboard 16 form the U-shaped frame 12.

The front member 16 has a groove 17 disposed therein. A panel supportingmember 18a is connected to the top surface of the side board 13a andextends therefrom in a horizontal direction as shown in FIG. 2.Similarly, a panel supporting member 18b is connected to the side board13b and extends in a horizontal direction therefrom. Both panelsupporting members 13a and 13b extend inwardly toward each other and donot extend over the outside of the upstanding sidewalls 10a and 10b ofthe load carrying bed of the pick up truck. These panel supportingmembers 18a and 18b also have grooves 19a and 19b disposed therein,respectively. In this manner, the front board 16 with its groove 17disposed therein cooperates with the panel supporting member 18a to forma set of panel supporting members which support a panel 200. The panel20a is mounted in the groove in front connecting member 16 and panelsupporting member 18a for slidable movement in a substantiallyhorizontal direction between a collapsed position (shown in broken linesin FIG. 2) where the panel 20a is positioned substantially between theside members 13a and 13b and a cantilever position where the panel 20aextends outwardly beyond the side board 13a over the upstanding sidewall 10a of the pick up (shown in FIGS. 1, 4 and 5). In a similar mannera panel 20b (which is shown in FIG. 5) is mounted for slidable movementin the set of panel supporting members, which is provided by the panelsupporting member 18b and the groove 19b disposed therein, incooperation with the front board 16 and the groove 17 disposed therein.

A reinforcing means includes a center support member 21 connected to theplatform supporting members 18a and 18b by means of outside latch means22 and inside latch means 23 in order to prevent the panel supportmembers 18a and 18b from horizontal or vertical movement with respect toeach other. By securing the panel support members in this manner thepanels 20a and 20b, and the frame 12 itself, are reinforced in both thecollapsed and the cantilevered positions whereby the panels may providea storage or sleeping area extending outwardly of the load carrying bedof the truck. A groove 21b in the center support member is aligned withthe grooves 19a and 19b in panel support member 18a and 18b,respectively, to support the panels 20a and 20b in the collapsedposition.

The inside latch means 23, shown in detail in FIG. 6, secures the centersupport member 21 and the panel support member 18a against horizontalmovement with respect to each other. The inside latching means 23includes an L-shaped arm 24 which is attached to the center supportmember 21 by a bracket 24a such that the bar has a vertically extendingportion 24 which fits into a substantially U-shaped bracket 25 securedto panel support member 18a. The outside latch means- 22, which is shownin detail at FIG. 7, is designed to prevent relative vertical movementbetween the center support member 21 and the panel supporting memberssuch as 18a. The outside latch means 22 may simply consist of a slidingbolt type latch where a sliding bolt 26 extends through thesubstantially U-shaped bracket 27 mounted on panel support member 18aand U- shaped bracket 28 mounted on center support member 21. Of course,similar inside and outside latching means are provided between thecenter support member 21 and the panel supporting member 18b.

The center support member 21, when secured to the panel support members18a and 18b, provides support for the entire camper frame 12 when thecamper unit is in the collapsed position shown in FIG. 2. The centersupport member can also support the panels 20a and 20b in the cantileverposition when the camper unit is erected away from the pick up truck.However, when the camping unit is erected on the pick up truck, thecenter support member 21 would interfere with the entrance into the loadcarrying bed on the pick up truck. In order to provide for the removalof this center support member when the tent is erected on the pick uptruck, the reinforcing means of this invention further includes anadjustable tie rod 30 which may be connected to the panel supportingmember 18a and to the floor 10c of the load carrying bed of the pick uptruck in order to support in tension the panel 20a, and any weightplaced thereon, thereby allowing the inside latch means 23 and theoutside latch means 22 to be released so that the center support membercan be removed.

In order to connect the tie rod 30 to the floor 100 of the load carryingbed of the pick up truck, an anchoring means 31 is mounted on the floor.Referring to FIG. 8, the anchoring means 31 is simply a plate 32 whichis mounted by screws 33 to the floor 10c. The plate 32 has a raisedportion 31a with a slot 34 adapted to receive a collar 35, which maysimply be a bolt head, disposed on the lower end of the tie rod 30. Thetop portion of the tie rod is L-shaped (not shown) so that thehorizontal portion of the tie rod may be inserted into a hold 36a in thepanel supporting member 18a. The tie rod 30 may be adjustable by anysuitable means such as a threaded sleeve 37 which is threadedlyconnected to the upper tie rod portion 30a and the lower tie rod portion30b. Similarly, the panel support member 18b may be secured to ananchoring means 31b by a tie rod (not shown) of the same construction asthe tie rod 30 with the tie rod fitting in hole 36b in panel supportmember 19a.

The tent-like cover 11 is supported over the frame 12 by a series ofsupports which are attached to the frame 12 or the panels 20a and 20b.In order to support the tent-like cover 11 in an erected position, afirst U- shaped cover supporting member 40a is pivotally mounted to anend piece 41a connected to the panel 20a. A first cover supportingmember 40b is similarly pivotally mounted to an end piece 41b attachedto the panel 20b. In order to support the tent-like cover 11 in anerected position, a first U-shaped cover supporting member 40a ispivotally mounted to an end piece 41a connected to the panel 20a. Thefirst cover supporting members 40a and 40b are pivotal between thecollapsed position shown in FIG. 2 and the substantially uprightposition shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 5 where the members support thetent-like cover 11 in an erect position.

A plurality of outrigger arms 42a, 43a and 440 are mounted in sleeves45a, 46a and 47a extending through the paneled end pieces 41a. A ropeline such as 48a is attached to each of the outrigger arms and to thefirst cover supporting member'40a sothat the outrigger arms will serveto maintain the first cover supporting member 40a, which is attached tothe tent-like cover 11, in a substantially upright position even underthe weightof the tent-like cover 11 in its erected position. Similarly,a plurality of outrigger arms such as 42b are attached to the end piece41b for panel 20b and extend in a horizontal direction and are connectedto the first cover supporting member 40b by a rope line 48a in order tosupport and maintain the first cover supporting member 40b in asubstantially upright position under the weight of the attached, erectedor unfolded tent-like cover 11. The tautness of the lines 48a and 48bmay be adjusted by adjustable means such as the sliding knots 49a and49b.

In order to support the center part of the tent-like cover 11, secondvertically extending U-shaped cover supporting members 500 and 50b maybe mounted in holes (not shown) in the panels 20a and 20b, respectively.A bowed brace member 51 and straight brace members 52 and 53 areattached to the second vertically extending cover supporting members 50aand 50b thereby providing support for the tent-like cover. The bowedbrace 51 provides an apex for the tent-like cover in order to enhancedrainage.

When the camping unit is in the collapsed position shown in FIG. 2, thefirst cover supporting members 40a and 40b are pivoted to a almosthorizontal position where they are substantially flat against the panels20a and 20b, respectively. The panels themselves are positioned withinthe grooves in the front board 16, in the platform supporting members18a and 18b, and in the center supporting member 21. With the panels inthis collapsed position, they are disposed entirely between the sideboard members 13a and 13b thereby providing a very compact camping unitwhich may easily be handled and stored either in the position on thepick up truck shown in FIG. 2 or at some other location. The centersupport member 21 secures the U-shaped frame so that it may be easilymoved. When the camping unit is in the collapsed position shown in FIG.2, an outside cover (not shown) may be mounted over the frame in orderto protect the camping unit.

When it becomes necessary to erect the camping unit, the outside coveris removed and, of course, the tail gate 52 of the pick up truck islowered. The first cover support members 40a and 40b are then raised toa substantially vertical position and the Outriggers such as 42a and 42bare inserted into the sleeves such as 45a in respected end pieces 41aand 41b. Now, the panels 20a and 20b are slidably moved from theircollapsed position to a substantially cantilevered position where thepanels extend outwardly over the upstanding side walls a and 10b of thepick up truck; however, the panels at this time are not moved entirelyto the full extended position shown in FIG. 4. The tie-rod 30 is nowconnected between the panel support member 18a and the plate 32 mountedon the floor 100 of the pick up truck bed. After the tie rod 30 has beeninserted into the hole 36a in the panel supporting member 18a and intothe slot 34 in the plate 32, the adjusting sleeve 37 may be turned untilthe tie rod 30 will resist any movement of the platform support member18a. In a similar manner a tie rod (not shown) is attached between theanchoring means 31b in the floor of the pick up and the panel supportmember 18b. The center support member 21 may now be removed by simplyreleasing the inside and outside latch means. The second coversupporting members 500 and 50b are now inserted into holes (not shown)in the panels 20a and 20b respectively and the cross braces 51, 52 and53 are attached therebetween. The panels 20a and 2012 are now slidablymoved to the extended cantileve position shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 and therope lines such as 48a are adjusted by the sliding knots 49a and 49buntil they are extremely taut so that the first cover supporting members40a and 40b are maintained in a substantially upright position wherebythe tent-like cover 11 is stretched firmly over the cover supportingmembers. It is noted that bed stops such as 20c may be mounted on theupper surface of the panels 20a and 20b (see FIG. 4) in order tomaintain the bed mattress in position.

The tent like cover 11 may be of any suitable design in that it mayinclude a zipper door 56 and screen windows such as 57. The tent-likecover may be attached to the frame by a means of snaps (not shown). Theoutside cover which extends over and protects the entire camping unit inits collapsed position shown in FIG. 2, may be used as a canopy 58 inthe position shown in FIG. 3 where it may be connected to snaps 59 andheld in an upright extended position by telescoping poles such as 60attached to the load carrying bed of the truck and to the outside cover,itself.

The camper unit A is of extreme light weight and therefore may bemounted on a vehicle such as a pick up truck or other vehicles, perhapswith the studs such as 14a and a extending from the side boards 13a and13b removed. The camping unit A offers the further advantage that, whenadapted to be mounted in a pick up truck, the only necessary adaptationto the truck itself is the mounting of the plates 32 to the floor 10c ofthe load carrying bed of the truck. The tie rods provide substantialreinforcement for the panels 20a and 20b in their extended cantileverposition so that even two people may sleep at a time on top of one ofthe panels. Therefore, the camping unit A may sleep up to four in bothpanels 20a and 20b which allows the floor of the pick up truck bed toremain substantially free ofobstruction so that even more campers maysleep on the floor.

It is to be understood that it is within the scope of this inventionthat the camping unit A be adapted to be erected on the ground or othersurfaces separate and apart from any type of vehicle including a pick uptruck. For instance, by the very simple step of removing the studs suchas 14a and 15a from the bottom of the side boards 13a and 13b, thecamping unit may be placed upon any surface such as the ground. When thecamper unit is erected on the ground, the frame 12 is reinforced by thecenter support 21 which is very close to the ground itself and will notobstruct entry into the camper unit. Of course, if the camper unit isused off of the pick up truck, the lower portion 11a of the cover 11 maybe removed by unsnapping it at snaps 61. Therefore, this camping unitmay be carried on many different types of vehicles and may be used toprovide covered camping space in the bed of the pick up truck or atother locations such as on the ground itself.

The foregoing disclosure and description of the invention areillustrative and explanatory thereof, and various changes in the size,shape, and materials as well as in the details of the illustratedconstruction may be made without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

We claim:

1. A camping unit which may be collapsed into a compact unit and iseasily erected, comprising:

a. a frame including opposing side portions;

b. a panel mounted on each of said opposing side portions for movementbetween a collapsed position where said panels are positionedsubstantially between said opposite side portions and a cantileverposition where said panels extend outwardly beyond said opposing sideportions; and

0. means including a removable member for connecting said opposing sideportions of said frame for reinforcing said frame for supporting saidpanels in said cantilever position wherein said panels can provide astorage or sleeping area extending beyond the frame.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1, including:

a. a tent-like cover; and

b. cover supporting means attached to and extending from said panels andfrom said frame for supporting said tent-like cover in an erectedposition.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1 including:

a. said frame including panel supporting members attached to each ofsaid opposite side portions and extending from said opposite sideportions of said frame in a substantially horizontal direction, eachpanel supporting member having a groove disposed therein; and

b. each of said panels is slidably mounted in said grooves in said panelsupporting members for movement in a substantially horizontal directionwhereby said panels provide a substantially horizontal surface area forstorage or sleeping.

4. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein:

said removable member connecting said opposing side portions in order toprovide support for said panels in the cantilever position.

5. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein one of said panel supportmembers is attached at one end to one of said opposing side portions isalso attached at the other end to said other opposing side portion inorder to provide an integral substantially U-shaped frame.

6. The structure set forth in claim 2 wherein said cover supportingmeans includes:

a first cover supporting member pivotally mounted to each of said panelswhereby said cover supporting members may be pivoted to substantiallyupright positions in order to support said cover in an erect position.

7. The structure set forth in claim 4 wherein said removable memberprovides support for the frame when the panels are in a collapsedposition.

8. The structure set forth in claim 6 including:

a. said first cover supporting members are attached to said tent-likecover; and

b. said outrigger means extends outwardly from each panel and connectsto said first cover supporting member for maintaining said tent-likecover in an erect position.

9. The structure set forth in claim 6 including:

a. second vertically extending cover supporting members mounted on eachof said panels to support said cover; and

b. cross cover supporting member attached to said second verticallyextending members in order to further support said cover in an erectposition.

10. The structure set forth in claim 6 wherein said first coversupporting members are pivotal to a collapsed substantially horizontalposition against the panels so that said camper unit forms a compactunit when not erected.

11. The structure set forth in claim 1, including:

a. said frame is adapted for mounting on opposing upstanding side wallsof a load carrying bed of a vehicle such as a pick up truck whereby saidpanels in the cantilever position extend outwardly from said upstandingside walls;

b. anchoring means are mounted on the floor of the vehicle load carryingbed; and

0. means for connecting said frame to said anchoring means.

12. The structure set forth in claim 11 wherein said means forconnecting are adjustable tie rods connected to said frame and to thefloor of the load carrying bed of the vehicle.

13. The combination of a vehicle such as a pick up truck having a loadcarrying bed defined by upstanding side walls and a floor and a camperunit mounted on said vehicle capable of providing a covered storage orsleeping space extending beyond the opposing upstanding sides of thevehicle load carrying bed, comprising:

a. a frame including opposing side portions mounted on each of theopposing upstanding side walls of the load carrying bed and a set ofpanel supporting members attached to each of said opposite sideportions;

b. a panel mounted on each set of said panel supporting members forslidable movement between a collapsed position where said panels arepositioned substantially inside the opposing upstanding side walls ofthe load bed and a cantilever position where said panels extendoutwardly of the load carrying bed over the opposing upstanding sidewalls; and

0. means including a removable member for connecting said opposing sideportions of said frame for reinforcing said frame for supporting saidpanels in said cantilever position whereby said panels provide a storageor sleeping area extending outwardly of the load carrying bed of thetruck.

14. The structure set forth in claim 13, including:

a. a tent-like cover; and

b. cover supporting means attached to and extending from said panels andfrom said frame for supporting said cover in an erected position.

15. The structure as set forth in claim 13 including:

said removal member connecting a panel support member mounted on one ofsaid opposing side portions to a panel support member mounted on saidother opposing side portion to support said camper unit.

16. The structure set forth in claim 13 including:

a. anchoring means mounted on the floor of the vehicle load carryingbed; and

b. means for connecting said frame and to said anchoring means.

17. The structure set forth in claim 13 wherein said reinforcing meansis an adjustable tie rod connected to said frame and to said floor ofsaid load carrying bed of said vehicle.

1. A camping unit which may be collapsed into a compact unit and iseasily erected, comprising: a. a frame including opposing side portions;b. a panel mounted on each of said opposing side portions for movementbetween a collapsed position where said panels are positionedsubstantially between said opposite side portions and a cantileverposition where said panels extend outwardly beyond said opposing sideportions; and c. means including a removable member for connecting saidopposing side portions of said frame for reinforcing said frame forsupporting said panels in said cantilever position wherein said panelscan provide a storage or sleeping area extending beyond the frame. 2.The structure set forth in claim 1, including: a. a tent-like cover; andb. cover supporting means attached to and extending from said panels andfrom said frame for supporting said tent-like cover in an erectedposition.
 3. The structure set forth in claim 1 including: a. said frameincluding panel supporting members attached to each of said oppositeside portions and extending from said opposite side portions of saidframe in a substantially horizontal direction, each panel supportingmember having a groove disposed therein; and b. each of said panels isslidably mounted in said grooves in said panel supporting members formovement in a substantially horizontal direction whereby said panelsprovide a substantially horizontal surface area for storage or sleeping.4. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein: said removable memberconnecting said opposing side portions in order to provide support forsaid panels in the cantilever position.
 5. The structure set forth inclaim 1 wherein one of said panel support members is attached at one endto one of said opposing side portions is also attached at the other endto said other opposing side portion in order to provide an integralsubstantially U-shaped frame.
 6. The structure set forth in claim 2wherein said cover supporting means includes: a first cover supportingmember pivotally mounted to each of said panels whereby said coversupporting members may be pivoted to substantially upright positions inorder to support said cover in an erect position.
 7. The structure setforth in claim 4 wherein said removable member provides support for theframe when the panels are in a collapsed position.
 8. The structure setforth in claim 6 including: a. said first cover supporting members areattached to said tent-like cover; and b. said outrigger means extendsoutwardly from each panel and connects to said first cover supportingmember for maintaining said tent-like cover in an erect position.
 9. Thestructure set forth in claim 6 including: a. second vertically extendingcover supporting members mounted on each of said panels to support saidcover; and b. cross cover supporting member attached to said secondvertically extending members in order to further support said cover inan erect position.
 10. The structure set forth in claim 6 wherein saidfirst cover supporting members are pivotal to a collapsed substantiallyhorizontal position against the panels so that said camper unit forms acompact unit when not erected.
 11. The structure set forth in claim 1,including: a. said frame is adapted for mounting on opposIng upstandingside walls of a load carrying bed of a vehicle such as a pick up truckwhereby said panels in the cantilever position extend outwardly fromsaid upstanding side walls; b. anchoring means are mounted on the floorof the vehicle load carrying bed; and c. means for connecting said frameto said anchoring means.
 12. The structure set forth in claim 11 whereinsaid means for connecting are adjustable tie rods connected to saidframe and to the floor of the load carrying bed of the vehicle.
 13. Thecombination of a vehicle such as a pick up truck having a load carryingbed defined by upstanding side walls and a floor and a camper unitmounted on said vehicle capable of providing a covered storage orsleeping space extending beyond the opposing upstanding sides of thevehicle load carrying bed, comprising: a. a frame including opposingside portions mounted on each of the opposing upstanding side walls ofthe load carrying bed and a set of panel supporting members attached toeach of said opposite side portions; b. a panel mounted on each set ofsaid panel supporting members for slidable movement between a collapsedposition where said panels are positioned substantially inside theopposing upstanding side walls of the load bed and a cantilever positionwhere said panels extend outwardly of the load carrying bed over theopposing upstanding side walls; and c. means including a removablemember for connecting said opposing side portions of said frame forreinforcing said frame for supporting said panels in said cantileverposition whereby said panels provide a storage or sleeping areaextending outwardly of the load carrying bed of the truck.
 14. Thestructure set forth in claim 13, including: a. a tent-like cover; and b.cover supporting means attached to and extending from said panels andfrom said frame for supporting said cover in an erected position. 15.The structure as set forth in claim 13 including: said removal memberconnecting a panel support member mounted on one of said opposing sideportions to a panel support member mounted on said other opposing sideportion to support said camper unit.
 16. The structure set forth inclaim 13 including: a. anchoring means mounted on the floor of thevehicle load carrying bed; and b. means for connecting said frame and tosaid anchoring means.
 17. The structure set forth in claim 13 whereinsaid reinforcing means is an adjustable tie rod connected to said frameand to said floor of said load carrying bed of said vehicle.